Venture Church

Do you ever have the feeling that you just want to do better in life? That you want to make a difference? That you want to be a better parent, friend or spouse? Jesus shares in John 15 a powerful truth that will bring light to that yearning. Jesus calls Himself the vine and then calls us the branches. That if we remain in Him we will bear much fruit. The thought is a bit abstract but extremely foundational for Christianity. Tune in this week as we ellaborate on this solid truth to grow our faith to bear much fruit in this life. 

This week we are at Hugh Macrae Park! Every year we have Church at the park and it is a wonderful time to sing to God and hear His word in His creation. We continue the series "I Am" by staying in John chapter 10 for another "I Am" statement from Jesus. Tune in this week and hear how Jesus is the good shepherd. 

Throughout this series we are reading through every "I Am" statement Jesus says about himself. This week we land in John chapter 10 and read through a very famous parable that Jesus teaches on. We learn about several qualities about Jesus that are vital to the christian walk. Continue on this journey with us through the book of John to learn more about the character of Jesus.

Jesus has several statements in the book of John that begin with "I am." After these, each time Jesus begins to describe himself to everyone listening in a way that is extremely eye opening. He is handing over the keys to The Kingdom of God. He's handing over truth to us that is life changing. This series we go through all of those statements to learn from the words of Jesus himself.

We are kicking off a new teaching series this week called "I Am." We will be going through the 7 statements Jesus claims about himself. Statements like, "I am the bread of life" can be confusing to hear out of the mouth of Jesus. It was even confusing at times for His followers. But thankfully Jesus explains himself and throughout the series we will be diving in to the truth that He is who He says He is and why that is vital to our day to day lives. 

True redemption is hard to find at times. When we make mistakes or have regrets of any kind it is tough to turn them fuel for a better future. As we wrap up the final week of Starting Over, Patrick shares a wonderful story from the book of Ruth about redemption. The truth is that through Jesus and the promises of God he truly wants to redeem every bit of pain and sorrow in your life into something more beautiful than we could ever do with it ourselves. You don't want to miss out on this final week of Starting Over and hearing about the life you can have beyond your regrets. 

Once we have recognized the regrets we have encountered the next step is to forgive. Forgive yourself and ultimately forgive the other parties involved in your regrets. Forgiveness is at the center of God's heart and this week we learn the ins and outs of what forgiveness is and more importantly what it is not. Through the words of Jesus we find his never ending promises and his never ending forgiveness. 

A huge part of the healing process through our many regrets are first recognizing the wrong that has happened. Whether we committed it, it happened to us, or it is something that we have ignored it is vital that we recognize that it is there so that we can take the next steps to truly giving it all to God for healing to happen. It is possible to start over, but only through the path that Jesus sets before us can we feel really clean from it all. 

It's Easter Sunday this week and we start with a new series that is all about sharing what Jesus has done for us. We all have regrets, but Jesus gives us life beyond each and every one of them. There is nothing that you have or haven't done that He can't give you grace for. He is faithful to the end and on this Sunday we celebrate more than ever the most important thing Jesus brought for all of humanity, a chance to start over. Listen in this week about the true grace of Jesus and how massively life changing this is for you. 

On our last week of "Lamplighters" we learn about the most important part that light brings. It is the moment when we find what we are looking for! Say we have illumnation and we have the navigation to get us there but if you never find it then what's the point? The creator of the universe celebrates with all the heavens when we turn away from life in darkness and give it to Him the maker of the light. Join us this week as we celebrate what Jesus has done for us and learn about the true loving and forgiving heart of God.